Politicians should stop lying to residents
The City of Johannesburg's Executive Mayor, councillor Herman Mashaba, is disappointed by what Gauteng Premier David Makhura told the media about the housing challenges.
“It is with great disappointment that I noted a statement by Gauteng Premier David Makhura to the media regarding housing challenges faced by the province and the City in particular,” he said.
In a recent media release, Mashaba stated that, in an interview with Makhura, with regard to the government’s response to recent housing protests, Makhura mentioned that the City is not cooperating with efforts to providing housing to residents.
“This is with respect to the release of vacant land for housing projects. The comments came as a surprise, given the City’s efforts to engage, in good faith, on the matter,” said Mashaba.
According to Mashaba, the limited access to quality affordable housing within the province and the City especially, is a long-standing problem which has been presided over by successive administrations.
“For over 24 years, the previous administration has failed to address this challenge, something Makhura seems to conveniently fail to mention. Last year, in an effort to address this matter, particularly the rising unrest within Eldorado Park and surrounds, I, together with the then Minister of Housing, Lindiwe Sisulu, and the then Gauteng MEC for Housing, Paul Mashatile, held an intense meeting with representatives of these communities. At this meeting, the provincial and national governments committed to addressing the needs of these residents immediately,” he added.
Mashaba also stated that neither the provincial nor the national government had fulfilled their commitment with regard to the matter.
“Due to this failure, I cautioned against making commitments to communities without ensuring the essential budget allocations are secured to build the infrastructure needed to service the land which residents may be relocated to,” he said.
Masheba mentioned that the City committed to providing assistance once the two spheres of government had created the necessary plans, which is in their primary sphere of jurisdiction; however, nothing materialised from this interaction.
It has now come to light that, following similar protests in the affected communities, the City has met with the new Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements, Uhuru Moiloa. Mashaba has reiterated the need for specific housing allocations to be made to the community backed by an appropriate budget.
Mashaba indicated that without this allocation, it would not be possible to ensure that the most indignant communities have the dignity of safe housing. At the time, this seemed to be a matter they all agreed on, and province committed to submitting a report on the matter early this week, which could then be taken to the City Council for consideration.
“The misrepresentation made by the Premier about the City’s participation in the process is most unfortunate and can only serve to harm intergovernmental relations between the province and the City,” he said.
He concluded by saying, “It is important to remind the Premier that the focus of our collective action needs to be on advancing the best interests of residents, and not petty politicking. I am on record as having stated that the days of politicians lying to our residents are over. This is something that Makhura should remember going forward.”
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at roodepoortrecord@caxton.co.za (remember to include your contact details) or phone us on 011 955 1130.
For free daily local news on the West Rand, also visit our sister newspaper websites
Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to let your voice be heard!
